Gardening has been an important part of my life since I was a kid living on Staten Island, one of the 5 boroughs of NYC. It began when my mother decided she was going to become a “gardener”!

Her first venture was to plant some daffodils. She knew they should be planted pretty deep in the ground, but she overextended that a bit, and when the flowers came up, the blooms were resting with their “chins” on the ground! They had stretched about as far as they could and it didn’t allow them to get their blossoms farther than the soil surface. It was pretty funny. My mother NEVER made that mistake again (and neither did I!).

Her zeal to learn about how to do it right, brought her to membership into three different garden clubs. She loved them…and boy! Did she learn about gardening!

We had a very small plot of land around our house on Staten Island, but she filled it with beautiful, aromatic, and even tasty plants, although her passion was really for flowers. There were climbing June roses, whose odor still bring me right back to my youth when I smell them today. There were prize winning chrysanthemums, as well as proper daffodils, and other blooming bulbs, and perennials, etc.

She had my Dad build a pergola for her, that was a groaning board for honey-suckle vines. We ate out there all summer long, right by the birdbath, surrounded by lovely plants of all sorts (and a TON of bees, I might add!).

Her garden clubs titilated her artistic bent and she soon began to make floral arrangements. Those arrangements were so good that they were not only entered into the NY Flower Show, but she actually won prizes there for her endeavors. We were very proud, but didn’t fully recognize the awesomeness of her talent until we were much older and realized just what she had accomplished!

She generated in me a life-long romance with flowering plants and anything having to do with them. I, however, was never a “garden clubber”. I have always found them to be more social than practical. Perhaps that was just because where I lived tended to attract gardeners who cared more for the condition of their fingernails, than the soil those nails encountered!

At any rate, when I learned about the Master Gardener Programs available all over this country, I felt I had found my calling! I became a Master Gardener in Connecticut, where we lived at this point, and found my niche in helping new, or struggling gardeners be able to plant their daffodils right, the first time!

When my husband and I retired to New Hampshire, I looked for a gardening “hot line” in vain. At the time I arrived, they didn’t have one of those in my area (the boonies!) So, I began a BLOG!

I worked on that blog for years, until we made the move to the Pacific Northwest, where we are closer to our daughter and her family, after years of living close to our sons. (Don’t even ask why our kids all live a continent apart!) I enjoyed the blog, and started a new one more appropriate for our new area. I struggled with how I should approach it’s direction.

While struggling with that, I thought perhaps I should put some of my accumulated knowledge into a book, which is what I did.

It is essentially a collection of gardening vignettes followed by a gardening calendar. It does tell about my New England garden, but a daffodil has the same needs in Seattle as it does in North Haverhill, NH and Wethersfield, CT. Pruning is the same and the birds select their seed and backyards the same way. Judging when to water depends on the plant, not the location in which you live! So, although the book talks about a New England Garden…(I wish I had given it a different name.) It really applies to ANY garden, and the stories are there for your enjoyment. I’m hoping perhaps you give it a “look see”. Perhaps you, or a gardener you know, might enjoy an inexpensive, yet information packed, gardening tome.

Here are the hellebores in all their February glory! As you saw in my last post, the garden is not sleeping any longer. The natural alarm clock has gone off, and the plants are busy preparing for their appearance!

Here are some things you can deal with this month in your garden. At Horizon House, not all of them are appropriate, but there are other gardeners (not living at Horizon House) who read this blog as well, so I’ve added a few things for them. If something doesn’t apply to you, well just ignore it!

Bring home some wonderful blooming flowers to enjoy around the house!

This is the time to get out and take a good look at your trees to see if they could stand some pruning. It is easy to see whether there are broken or diseased branches now that there are no leaves.Always think “could a bird fly right through this tree without banging into a branch?”That would indicate that air and sun could ALSO fly right through-and that would be a GOOD thing!

Are you ordering from those catalogs? This is the time to plan on making your dreams come true! At least in the garden.

As you look around the neighborhood, make note of plants that have “winter interest”. Find out what they are and plan to add them to your garden when the weather is better!

Trees are easy to identify in the winter because all the leaves are gone. However, you have no leaves to use to help you either…so go to the book store and buy a Winter Tree Identification Guide. (I identified one of MANY appropriate books. See if there’s one that you can relate with!) It’s kind of fun identifying trees by their shapes, and the kids love doing it as well.

If you haven’t done it already, sharpen those tools-and while you’re at it, organize them as well.

Before you know it, should you have a lawn, it will be time to roll out the lawn mower. Has it been serviced? Get it to the shop before everyone else beats you to it.

Get rid of weeds you see, and if the mulch is getting thin, replenish it.

Do you have winter vegetables?Now’s the time to harvest!

If you haven’t done a soil test done lately, maybe now’s the time?

If you start seeds this month or next, try using clear topped take-home trays that you get leftovers in, from restaurants. They work really well! (I don’t know about you, but I haven’t seen too many of these around lately.I guess we’re getting better about compostable containers!)

Force some of your spring blooming twigs for indoor color. Try fruit trees, forsythia, dogwood, pussy willow and quince. Just bring them inside and allow them to sit in a large vase with water.

Keep those bird feeders full, unless you live in a high rise, like Horizon House…then the feeders attract varmints.Horizon House residents…NO BIRD FEEDERS, except for Humming bird feeders.

Be sure to keep the leaves of indoor plants “dusted”. It helps to wipe them with a damp cloth to keep the pores open.

Look around the garden (if it isn’t covered by snow) and be sure none of your perennials have been heaved out of the ground by frost. If they have, press them back down.

Plant any bare root trees or shrubs when you get them.They are usually available now.They will be cheaper and probably easier to start!

Remove any heavy snow (should you have it)from the evergreens.

Be alert!You may see some signs of spring.A bulb peeking up where you least expect it?A robin after that worm?WHEEEEE!Can’t WAIT!

Today, after lunch, since I was in the Dining Room and half way to the gardens, I thought I’d take a little swing through them to see what was peeking up. I was NOT disappointed! In fact, after I waltzed through the 3 levels, I went upstairs and got my little iPod-Touch (my camera!) and went back to take some pictures of the rhododendrons. They are VERY pregnant with blooms, and I thought that justified a blog posting about how to deal with rhododendrons, or rhodies, as I call them.

Over the next month these plants will bloom, and bloom and bloom. They are among the most prolific and beautiful blossoms you will find in our gardens.

Now, how do you care for them? They are really pretty easy. Here are some basic points to think about:

DO NOT PRUNE UNTIL THEY ARE DONE BLOOMING. If you do, you will rob us all of beautiful flowers! If you want to pick some of your own blooms for use inside, that is of course your privilege. Do NOT pick blooms from any one else’s garden however! (Unless you have permission.)

Prune sparingly. Try to remove ONLY dead and diseased plant material. If the shrub really needs to be brought under control, size-wise, or if they are looking “leggy”, it’s easy to do by pruning right down as close to a parent branch as possible. You will get new shoots, which will be blooming in a couple of years.

These plants bloom so prolifically that they often exhaust themselves trying to produce seed from all those blossoms. If you are careful, you can remove the spent blossoms. However, be careful to take ONLY the spent bloom, and NOT the leaves surrounding them, as that is where next years blossoms form. If you are feeling timid about this, just leave them alone. Then when they are completely dry, you can almost brush them off! Or still leave them alone, the plant will be just fine. Some wild plants are NEVER pruned and they continue to bloom as if they were being paid for it!!!

Fertilize them? They naturally grow in the woods, with no need for extra fertilizer. They love partial shade, as well as all the needles and leaves that coat the forest floor. Keep that in mind!

Do they need extra water? Probably not. As long as they have rich soil and good mulch they should do fine. If we have a REALLY dry spell, they would probably be grateful for a DEEP watering. They are shallow rooted, so if you don’t water them deeply, the roots will head toward the top of the soil to get that water, making them vulnerable to heat and dryness.

Here is a PDF from Washington State Extension Service. It tells about a myriad of issues that can take down your rhodies and azaleas. Don’t let the article scare you off. It looks pretty dramatic. BUT, if you DO have a problem with your shrub, there are great pictures here of what the affected plants and leaves look like, and then you can deal with the problem. Click on the link to see the information.

Now, notice how healthy all the rhodies look in the photo’s I took today? Our plants are doing quite well, and you probably won’t have ANY of those difficulties…so don’t worry about it!

At any rate, enjoy the rhododendrons as they fill our gardens with a profusion of wonderful color and cheer! All of our gardeners are HOPING you go down to the garden terraces and just “hang out” there!

Oh, my goodness! This morning I took a walk around the gardens of Horizon House! For those of you willing to walk slowly and really observe your surroundings, you too can find the deliciousness of SPRING IN JANUARY, all around us!

Here are the pictures I took. I started outside the Dining Room and took photos of what you see as you sit and eat.

Then I went down to the E Level entrance from Freeway Park, and took a few pictures of Hellebores there.

Then it was on to the Secret Garden, Level C, and Level D!

Finally, I went out in front of Horizon House and as well as across the street where the Witch Hazel trees are blooming right outside the Virginia Mason Hospital!

What a delight! It gave me hope that spring is actually COMING. Hold onto your hat…and come along for the ride!

Autumn is surely here! The trees have turned color, started dropping their leaves and begun looking a bit “bare”. It is the way of the garden…even our little gardens here at Horizon House. Here’s a link that has photos and a few comments about our gardens.

But, to get back to autumn, and how it affects us, AND our gardens. I decided to write this post because I’ve just begun to read a book about soil, called “Growing a Revolution-Bringing Our Soil Back to Life”, by David Montgomery. Jean D. had asked if the Garden Committee would co-sponsor a program, with the Conservation Committee featuring David Montgomery, to speak about this new book. I thought that would be a great idea. He will be coming to HH sometime in the not too distant future. Anyway, I’m LOVING this book and how he explains about the soil and how we can replenish it with far less chemical intervention. Anyway, it got me thinking about how we can get into this “mode” here, even in our little gardens!

It is a totally natural approach. It’s wonderful, not only for the soil, but for insects, and the wildlife, of which many of us are not really aware. It is also easier on the gardeners, as the chores we usually accomplish in autumn are diminished.

Our garden beds are looking a bit scruffy right now. It’s a time when we fussy gardeners think it’s time to clean up all the debris. STOP!!! DON’T DO IT!!!!

When we remove all that debris, we stop the soil from replenishing itself. The leaves, if left alone, will become places for microbes and little critters to hide for the winter. All those little guys will use the leaves for food, passing it into the soil in a form that can be utilized as the roots gobble it up to feed the plants! So, don’t be too quick to remove those leaves!

Also, the plants themselves, if left standing are happily feeding birds and little creatures. There are green buds, berries and seeds, all of which keep our wildlife fed and passing it back to the soil as they hop from place to place.

Sure, it doesn’t look wonderful to OUR eyes, but the soil and wildlife will be so appreciative! Pledge to become a MESSY GARDENER along with the Nature Conservancy. This link will tell you more about how these techniques will really be good all around!

I think I will write a note in the ALERT telling people that our gardens may be looking a bit “scruffy” during the winter months…and WHY! So, go ahead and experiment. Leave those leaves alone, and let’s see what happens. In the spring, you can clean up your garden if you want. Letting the leaves break down further will be good for the soil, but if it looks too nasty for you, go ahead and clean it up in the spring, but leave the leaves for now!

Here’s to the Horizon House Garden Committee’s contribution to replenishment of the earth’s soil! Have fun being MESSY!

From the time we are just wee, little ones learning a catchy rhyme, “Rain, rain, go away. Come again another day!” Until the present time when we stand aghast to read the news about yet another terrible rain event in the form of one or more hurricanes.

Rain is one of those things that we hate one minute but know the next, that we can’t exist without.

The most important element that we need to support life (any kind of life) is WATER! It comes to us in the form of rain. Rain fills the oceans and pushes the brooks into the streams, which form the rivers, etc. So, we cannot do without rain!

Some climates have to live with little, or no rain, as in deserts. Other places like rainforests, have to figure out how to handle the deluges. As I recall the cliché is “feast or famine”! Here in the Pacific Northwest, we are usually in the “feast” category…but not always. This is where our skill, as gardeners and farmers, comes into play!

Our gardens have to handle both an excess of water, or in the dryest season of summer hold onto the little we get. In other words, sometimes we need to deal with drought, just as we need to deal with the occasional flood. Generally in the PNW, the rain is frequent, but light. It keeps us constantly damp it seems, but doesn’t rain enough to get down to the deep roots where it’s necessary in order to be of any use to the plant above. So, what are we to do?

As gardeners (I’ll include farmers in that all encompassing word) we all know that along with water, the most important ingredient is the SOIL! Just like water, soil comes in different forms as well. In a desert, it’s sand. In a rainforest, it is almost pure compost. If it rains in the desert, the water is gone almost as soon as it hits the ground, because sand does NOT hold water and the dampness is burned off by the sun. In the rainforest, the water is enclosed in the rich, deep compost, held in the shade, and available for whatever time is necessary!

What do we learn from this? In a desert, there are no plants dropping leaves, or falling onto the ground to rot…so there is no compost forming naturally. In the rainforest, there are trees and plants galore, which shed leaves, break off branches, and support animals that leave their detritus. All of this falls to the ground, rots and becomes compost. Now, if we could just get the two together!!!!

THAT is where the gardener begins to display his or her skills, and brains!

Essentially, there are three things you need in order to create good soil for your garden. The growing material itself (which we call the soil); water; and air. We aspire to “perfect” this combination in order to grow our crop, be it vegetables or flowering plants.

BUT, the bottom line is that we need to take the RAIN and hold onto it long enough, and deep enough, for the plants to utilize it. If a plant is watered and just the top of the soil is dampened, the roots have no way of getting to it. That is an unhealthy situation. The roots will aim upward to get to the water, leaving them vulnerable to the next burst of heat, which will dry those roots out, and eventually kill the plant. Water deeply! THAT is the weak spot in our rainy climate. We think because it’s always raining, we shouldn’t need to water, but that is NOT necessarily the case.

We need to figure out how to adjust the soil in order to hold and convey the water down to the roots of the plants. This is done by combining our soil with compost. That compost also loosens the soil, allowing space for air to be incorporporated. A good equation!

Last time, I talked about Bulb Lasagna, which was the technique of planting your bulbs in a container. Today, I’ll talk about putting them right in your garden. Let’s also realize that you probably have some bulbs already in place. On my New Hampshire blog, I had an article about dealing with (already) planted bulbs this time of year. Even though it talks about bulbs about to experience a rather cold winter, it will help you with fertilizers and treatment for wintering bulbs…no matter what the climate.

A year ago, I had an entire blog entry about bulbs. Here is the link for that. No sense “re-writing” all the same stuff. This link tells you the “how’s, why’s and where’s about bulb planting!

If you haven’t bought your bulbs yet, there’s still time. You can get bulbs at any garden center. You can also utilize a mail order nursery. I belong to a Pacific North West Gardening Facebook site where I asked about local Nurseries. I got two suggestions; You can check them out here. Easy To Grow Bulbs or Roozengaarde in Mt. Vernon.

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“A Year in My New England Garden”

I've published a book, entitled "A Year in My New England Garden", which contains a wonderful calendar of what to do in your garden every month of the year. It also contains short stories about my adventures in my New England garden. If you might be interested in seeing some more about it, paste this link into your browser. https://www.createspace.com/5092026